The emphasis here is getting Christmas Godly. We want Christmas festive and bright. We want the tree, the decorations, the lights, the sorrel, the eggnog, the ham and the presents. The Carnival Committee wants Calypso Shows, the Queen Shows, the Bull, the Masquerades and the Brass Bands on the streets of Basseterre. We want everyone to be happy. We want to be able to get and give plenty. We want peace and joy to abound.
In reality, Christmas often turns into a major hassle. You rush around and pressed for time. You spend money you don’t have for people you don’t like to acquire things they don’t even want or need. In our struggle to get it right, we often get it dead wrong and end up making ourselves and others miserable.
I believe God wants us to get it right this year. I believe that He is not so interested in us having a festive Christmas as He is interested in us having a Godly Christmas. So, how can we have a Godly Christmas? What do we need to understand and change in our lives that will allow Christmas to be a time of blessing and wonder instead of being a time of stress and tension?
In answering those questions, firstly, I think we need to know God as our Master in order to assemble a Godly Christmas.
The Gospel of Luke in the second chapter tells us that certain shepherds just happened to be tending to their flocks on the hillsides just outside the very town the couple goes to. Angelic beings just happen to show up at the right place, at the right time and with the right message. These things didn’t just happen…they were the work of Sovereign God accomplishing His eternal plan.
The question really is, who is in control of your life this Christmas? You can get everything you could possibly want and still be miserable if you don’t know Christ. Or, you could get nothing at all and experience true joy just because you know the Lord.
My friends, when you are in a faith relationship with Almighty God and you know that He is directing your paths, you can rejoice in the face of whatever life throws at you. When you have God as your Master, you are on the road of assembling a Godly Christmas. Do you have Him as your Master?
Secondly, the true essence of Christmas is not trees or gifts or the Carnival or the bacchanal. It’s not even family or friends. The true essence of Christmas is found in verse seven of St. Luke chapter two. The true essence of Christmas is the birth of a baby. Not just any baby, but a baby Who was and is God is human flesh.
The incarnation and the implications of that miraculous event...When you get a handle on Who Jesus is your whole concept of Christmas changes forever. It is about God becoming a man to die for sinners.
Yes, the shepherds were afraid, but the angel offered them a message of grace, peace, hope, blessing, joy and salvation.
That ought to be our message all through the year. God helps us to go and tell a lost and dying world about a living, loving Saviour Who can give them grace, peace, hope, blessing joy and salvation. Do you know the real meaning of Christmas? Is that the message others receive as they watch you live your life? Do you believe the message? Are you sharing the message?
Luke tells us that when the angels opened their mouths to speak, they sought to glorify God. Their only mission and motive that night was to exalt God Almighty for the great work He had accomplished.
My friends, when Christmas ceases to be about what you can get or how much you can give and it starts being about how you can glorify God, you are on your way to assembling a Godly Christmas.
So, what matters the most to you this Christmas? Bringing glory to God or keeping all the Christmas traditions? Finding yourself before Him in praise and worship or driving yourself crazy trying to get it all done? Rejoicing in what He has done for you, or complaining about how hard things are this year?
A Godly Christmas keeps the focus on God Almighty. A Godly Christmas will bring us to a place of worship!
My friends, the shepherds heard the message and they heeded it. They went to Bethlehem and they found Jesus. They believed what they heard and what they saw and they left Him to share Him with everyone they met. That is a great way to demonstrate how much you love Him this Christmas!
The mandate of the Gospel is a message worth sharing. We could do no better this Christmas than to share the good news of the Gospel with someone who does not know Jesus. There is no greater gift that we could give!
Are you assembling a Godly Christmas? Are you saved? If not, come to Jesus and let Him give you the best Christmas you ever had!
